Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald reacts after making a reception against the Buffalo Bills in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 14, 21012, in Glendale, Ariz. The Bills won 19-16 in overtime. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)

Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield, who is 5 feet 9, 180 pounds, said he welcomes the opportunity to play against the 6-3, 225-pound Fitzgerald.

“Of course — you know you’re going to get some action,” said Winfield, 35 and in his 14th NFL season. “You know the ball’s going to come your way, so it gives you an opportunity to make some plays yourself.

“He has great size, runs great routes. In jump-ball situations, I don’t think there’s a receiver in the league that’s better than him at going up and catching the ball at its highest point. He’s just a complete receiver.”

People in the know, after Tuesday’s NHL owners’ 50-50 revenue split offer to players, say it’s a decent bet that the regular season will start near mid-November with 82 games. That would mean the players wouldn’t lose a dime of their salaries.

Former Gophers wideout Eric Decker leads the Denver Broncos (3-3) in receptions with 34, including three TDs. He’s averaging 13.0 yards per catch.

Another Cretin-Derham Hall grad, Ryan Harris, the former Broncos offensive lineman, is in a right tackle rotation with the Houston Texans.

The Vikings, who will play the Pittsburgh Steelers in London next season, are 4-0 in games played outside North America.

At Target Center on Tuesday evening scouting the Timberwolves was former Gophers assistant Brent Haskins, who has taken a player personnel position with the Phoenix Suns. Haskins, 39, worked in Houston last season for Rockets coach Kevin McHale.

Brent said his father, former Gophers coach Clem Haskins, still works his farmland on his tractor in Campbellsville, Ky.

Gophers men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith picked up the tab at J.D. Hoyt’s after dining Monday with longtime pal Brad Greenberg, in town as coach of Maccabi Haifa, which played the Timberwolves on Tuesday night.

Former University of St. Thomas star Fritz Waldvogel helped rally the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns to a 56-53 comeback victory over Kiel Baltic in the 2012 German Football League championship game Saturday in Berlin.

Waldvogel, who turned 22 two weeks ago, had 18 receptions for 290 yards and two TDs and finished with 370 all-purpose yards. The 5-foot-8 wideout finished the season with 30 TDs, averaging 10 catches, 150 receiving yards and 245 all-purpose yards over 13 games. Word is he’s being considered for the league’s MVP honor.

That was St. Paul’s Tommy Mauer officiating the Lynx-Indiana Fever first-round WNBA Finals game at Target Center on Saturday. Big brother Ken Mauer Jr., is beginning his 27th season as a top NBA official.

Jim Brunzell and Fred Konrath will be inducted into the White Bear Lake Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday evening at the football game against East Ridge.

Richfield basketball star Jessica January has committed to DePaul for basketball.

DON’T PRINT THAT

Gophers athletics director Norwood Teague, who was an undergrad at North Carolina, said Tuesday that the decision to buy out, for $800,000, his football team’s home-and-home series against his alma mater beginning next year was made this summer.

Teague said Gophers coach Jerry Kill suggested the cancellation the day Teague took over at Minnesota in June.

“It’s expensive and a hit financially,” Teague said. “But when Jerry and I talked about it, and you look at his winning formula over the years, that it was something we wanted to do. He feels that in order to build a program in the Big Ten at his level your kids have got to have confidence, and that you don’t want to take on always a BCS opponent in your first two to three years out of conference.”

Teague said the money will be paid to North Carolina over two years.

“It’s not an $800,000 check that we’ve got to write today,” he said. “It’s not state money — it’s athletic (department) money. … We’re going to work to offset these costs by having a game or two here that maybe we wouldn’t have had in the future.”

Teague said it’s undecided which team will substitute for the North Carolina series.

OVERHEARD

Teague, on what he called some “hotly contested emails” he’s received on buying out of the North Carolina football series: “I understand. But I’ll be very honest — we haven’t exactly won at the highest level in football in the last 45 years. And we’re going to have to make tough decisions. This won’t be the last tough decision that I make or coach Kill makes.”

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